Voltage regulators are used in microcontrollers and other electronic devices to supply a core voltage. One type of voltage regulator is a linear voltage regulator. Linear voltage regulators generally have low-noise characteristics and rely on only a small, low cost decoupling capacitor. Another type of voltage regulator is a buck voltage regulator. Buck regulators provide a higher power efficiency than linear voltage regulators; however, buck regulators rely on an inductor connected in series between a regulator output and a decoupling capacitor. Buck regulators are useful in low-power applications.